History

Creation of Counter Logic Gaming

Counter Logic Gaming was founded by HotshotGG on April 16th, 2010, after he left messiahwins due to an inconvenience between HotshotGG and Reginald. The initial roster consisted of Locicero, Grandjudge, Chauster, Nolja, HotshotGG, Clever, Sabertiger, bigfatjiji, Lilballz, and Kobe24. This large roster did not last long, however, as many members left due to various reasons; Locicero left to focus more on school, Grandjudge had difficulty competing in tournaments due to living in Korea and eventually lost contact with HotshotGG, Nolja was in Korea as well and also had difficulties attending tournaments in addition to being very inactive, Clever left as he wanted to play more casually, Sabertiger left since he was recruited into the army, and Lilballz had difficulty attending tournaments due to living in Taiwan.

Eventually, the official roster was formed, consisting of HotshotGG, bigfatjiji, Chauster, Kobe24, and Elementz.

On November 30th, 2010, Counter Logic Gaming attended the Newegg Winter Wanfest 2010 online tournament. At the event, CLG took out DIN0, Team OP, and Rock Solid in the playoffs to reach the finals, where CLG played Team OP again. CLG lost the first best of three series 0-2 to Team OP, but came back in the final set and won 2-1 against the Korean team, taking home first place. [2]

In early 2011, Kobe24 officially retired from professional gaming and thus left Counter Logic Gaming. On February 23rd, 2011, Saintvicious took Kobe24's place and joined CLG as their new jungler.

On June 18, 2011, Counter Logic Gaming attended the Riot Season 1 Championship in Sweden. CLG started off going 2-1 in the group stage, defeating gamed!de and Xan, while falling to Team SoloMid. In the playoff bracket, CLG fell in the relegation round 0-2 against FnaticMSI, knocking CLG out of contention for first place. CLG ended up defeating gamed!de once again in the fifth place match. [3]

Pre-Season 2
One month later, on July 16, 2011, Counter Logic Gaming attended the National ESL Premier League Season 1. CLG placed second in the group stage, going 9-2 by defeating Low Elo, jpak and friends, WHALE, complexity, HKEGG, TeamLiquid, Defy All Odds, and OGODBEARS, while falling to Team SoloMid and unRestricted. Advancing into the playoffs, CLG defeated Rock Solid in the semifinals, placing them to compete against unRestricted for the grand prize. CLG took first place in the NESL Season 1 Championship after defeating unRestricted 2-0 in the grand finals.

Counter Logic Gaming participated in their second international LAN tournament, flying out to Cologne to play in the IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Cologne on August 17, 2011. CLG started the event by going 3-0 in group stage, defeating FnaticRC, SK Gaming, and Frag Executors. They continued into the playoff bracket, defeating Millenium 2-1 in the semifinals and playing against Team SoloMid in the grand finals, where CLG finished with a 2-1 victory. [4]

Moving back home to North American, CLG attended the 2011 MLG Pro Circuit - Raleigh on August 26, 2011. Counter Logic Gaming once again placed first in their group stage, going 3-0 over Epik Gamer, Team SoloMid, and Curse Gaming. CLG faced off against Epik Gamer in the finals and came out victorious with a 2-1 victory, finishing first place for the event. [5]

On October 5th, 2011, Counter Logic Gaming participated in the IEM Season VI - Global Challenge Guangzhou. In the group stage CLG placed second after defeating Millenium and Team Flash, but falling to Team WE. In the playoffs, CLG defeated SK Gaming 2-1 in the semifinals, but was again defeated by Team WE in the finals 1-2, taking home second place. [6]

The next day, Counter Logic Gaming attended IPL3 in Atlantic City. CLG's first match was against A Picture of A Goose, where CLG won 2-0. In the semifinals, CLG lost to Dignitas 0-2, knocking them out of contention for first place. CLG played against Team SoloMid for third place, in which CLG came out with a 2-0 victory.

On October 13th, 2011, Counter Logic Gaming flew out to New York and participated in the IEM Season VI - Global Challenge New York. CLG went 2-1 in the group stage, defeating Dignitas and Team SoloMid while losing to FnaticRC. CLG fell to SK Gaming 0-2 in the semifinals, knocking them down to play against Sypher for third place. Against the French team, CLG fell short in a best of three which resulted in a 2-1 victory for Sypher.

CLG attended the MLG 2011 - Providence Qualifiers, but were disqualified in the quarterfinals. CLG won their Top 4 placement match against RFLX Gaming. However, during this match, CLG elected to use Lapaka, from Absolute Legends, in the place of CLG Lilac. AL Lapaka was registered as the team leader for AbsoluteLegends, another team in the tournament, and played in the AL vs TSM match. As CLG made the decision to illegally substitute him into their active roster in the match against RFLX, CLG have been disqualified from the Tournament and RFLXGaming advanced into the Top 4. [7]

Season 2

A day after the start of Season 2, Counter Logic Gaming benched long standing member Elementz in order to add Doublelift to their active roster. As a result, Chauster moved to the support position while Doublelift took up the position of AD Carry. Elementz left the team soon after, accepting an offer to play for Curse Gaming.

In order to participate in the 2011 World Cyber Games, Counter Logic Gaming formed a team consisting of only Canadian players, Chaox, bigfatlp, HotshotGG, Elementz, and TheOddOne. In the group stage, this CLG squad placed second, defeating Sequential Gaming, Team Redbyte, Bida Gaming, while losing to Chicks Dig Elo. In the playoffs, Counter Logic gaming defeated the Chinese Invictus Gaming 2-0, advancing the Canadian team to the semifinals. Here, CLG faced off against the Polish ExGameburg Team, where CLG lost 0-2. The Canadian team played against the French team Millenium for third place, where CLG came out victorious 2-1.[8]

One week later, Counter Logic Gaming, with their normal roster of HotshotGG, bigfatlp, Chauster, Doublelift, and Saintvicious, participated in the National ESL Premier League Season 2 playoffs. CLG defeated YMN7 2-0, LeagueCraft 2-0, and Curse Gaming 2-1, advancing to the winner's bracket finals against Team SoloMid. Against TSM, CLG came out victorious 2-0. In the finals, Counter Logic Gaming defeated Curse Gaming 2-0, taking home first place for the second time at a NESL event.

On February 11, 2012, Counter Logic Gaming participated in the LoLPro.com Curse Invitational. In the playoffs, CLG defeated Choppa In Da Car 2-0 in the first round, and Team SoloMid 2-1 in the semifinals. In the finals, CLG lost to Team Dignitas 1-2.

On March 12th, 2012, Counter Logic Gaming moved into a temporary gaming house in South Korea in order to train and participate in the Azubu The Champions Spring 2012. Placed in Group B in the 2012 OGN Spring Championships, CLG went 2-1 and placed second, losing their first match against Xenics Storm, but defeating XD and NeL to qualify for the playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs, CLG fell to eventual OGN champion MiG Blaze 2-0. On April 25th, 2012, Counter Logic Gaming moved back to North America.

On the first of April, CLG competed in the Leaguecraft ggClassic. At the event, Counter Logic Gaming placed fourth, defeating Icons of Vanity 2-0 and Epik Gamer 2-1 before falling to 4Not.Fire 1-2, knocking them to play the deciding match for third place. However, CLG decided to forfeit their third place match, giving the win to jpak and friends.

In the midst of the OGN tournament, CLG flew to Las Vegas to compete in the IGN ProLeague Season 4 - Las Vegas, which was held on April 6th, 2012. At the event, CLG defeated against All authority 2-0 in the first round, but fell to Dignitas 1-2 in the second round. Being knocked down to the loser's bracket, CLG defeated v8 Esports and Monomaniac 2-0 to face off against Dignitas once again in the loser's bracket finals, where CLG defeated them 2-0. In the grand finals, CLG played against Team SoloMid, whom they took the first set 2-0 from. However, TSM defeated CLG in the second set 2-0, thus putting CLG in second place.

On May 19th, 2012, Counter Logic Gaming went through a roster reformation, benching long time CLG member Saintvicious, adding top laner Voyboy from team Dignitas, and having HotshotGG switch to the jungling position.

Two days after the roster change announcement, CLG also announced their name change from Counter Logic Gaming to Counter Logic Gaming Prime to avoid confusion with their second North American team, Counter Logic Gaming Black.

The next premier event that CLG.Prime participated in was the 2012 Major League Gaming - Spring Championship on June 8th, 2012. In the tournament, CLG.Prime defeated Orbit Gaming 2-1 in the first round, and Curse Gaming 2-0 in the second round before falling to team Dignitas 1-2 in the third round. Knocked to the loser's bracket, CLG.Prime faced off against their European squad, Counter Logic Gaming EU, whom CLG.Prime defeated 2-1. From there, CLG.Prime played against Team Dynamic, which resulted in a 2-0 victory for CLG.Prime. Counter Logic Gaming Prime then played Dignitas again after being knocked down to the loser's bracket by them previously. The set ended in a 2-0 victory for Counter Logic Gaming, which set them to play against Team SoloMid in the grand finals. Counter Logic Gaming Prime won in the first best of three 2-1, but fell in the second best of three 1-2 against TSM. CLG.Prime took home second place at this tournament. [10]

Five days later, CLG.Prime played in the GIGABYTE Esports LAN event located at the California State Polytechnic University of Pomona in Southern California. In the group stage, CLG.Prime placed second, going 2-1 in the group by defeating Dirtnap Gaming and mTw North America, while losing to Team Dynamic. In the playoffs, CLG.Prime faced off and defeated Curse Gaming 2-1, advancing them into the semifinals. There, CLG.Prime fell to Team SoloMid 1-2, knocking CLG down to play for the third place match against Team Dynamic. In the third place match, CLG.Prime was victorious with a 2-1 finish over Team Dynamic.

On July 2nd, 2012, HotshotGG stepped down from the position of active CEO of Counter Logic Gaming, being replaced by his mother Helen "RealMomGG" Georgallidis. [11]

Counter Logic Gaming Prime would be one out of the two North American teams to be invited to compete in the Azubu The Champions Summer 2012 tournament hosted in Seoul, South Korea. Placed into Group D, Counter Logic Gaming Prime would fall in their first game in group stage to Counter Logic Gaming EU. Despite the early loss to CLG EU, Counter Logic Gaming Prime would come back and qualify for the playoffs by defeating LG-IM and MVP Blue in the fifth and sixth games in the group stage, ending group play with a 2-1 second place finish. In the playoffs, Counter Logic Gaming Prime would unfortunately be eliminated from the tournament by losing to Azubu Frost 0-2, ending the event with a 5th-8th place placing. Despite no longer competing in the Azubu The Champions Summer 2012 tournament, Counter Logic Gaming Prime would stay in a gaming house in Korea to practice for the upcoming North American Regional.

Counter Logic Gaming Prime would fly back to North America to participate in the Season Two North American Regional Finals. In their first match at the event, Counter Logic Gaming Prime would pull out a 2-1 victory over Team Legion. However, in the semifinals Counter Logic Gaming Prime would fall to Team Dignitas 0-2, dropping to play in the third place match in order to qualify for the Season 2 World Championship. There, Counter Logic Gaming Prime would win two games in a row against Curse Gaming to take third place at the event and secure a spot at the Season 2 World Championship.

At the Season 2 World Championship in October, CLG Prime only managed a 9th-10th place finish. Despite attempts at several unconventional strategies, the team was knocked out in the group stage, falling to Invictus Gaming and Azubu Frost. Their sole win came against SK Gaming through a triple Teleport and Promote tactic, but it was not enough for CLG to advance. They took home $ 50,000.

On October 22nd, Counter Logic Gaming Prime's lineup went through several changes. First, Voyboy departed and former MiG Frost AD player Locodoco was picked up to play as the new support. With this change, long time support player Chauster shifted to the jungle position and HotshotGG would move back to his original top lane role.

Pre-Season 3

CLG prime would attend the 2012 MLG Fall Championship in Dallas on November 2nd through 4th. In the first round they faced the Korean powerhouse NaJin Sword, where they were routed in two lopsided matches. Falling to the losers bracket, CLG Prime would sweep Curse Gaming in round one, and then pick up a close 2-1 series against another NA team Dignitas. They would face their sister team CLG EU in Round 3. Unfortunately, they were outmatched as the European team eliminated them 2-1 from the tournament. CLG Prime would place 4th with $2,000 in winnings.

On November 29th, CLG would enter the IPL 5 tournament held in Las Vegas. In the group stages CLG Prime would dispatch the newly formed Team FeaR twice while dropping a game to CLG EU to advance. In the first round they would defeat Curse EU 2-1, and then move on to face FnaticRC. CLG Prime managed to take the first game off Fnatic with sharp play from their Jiji's Twisted Fate, however the champion was quickly banned out and CLG Prime would lose the next two games. In the losers bracket CLG Prime would face Moscow 5, they would take the first game of the set, but then fell twice against the Russian team, finishing their run in the tournament. CLG Prime would place 5th-6th with $2,500 in prize money. CLG Prime outperformed most expectations of them at tournament, with a strong showing of Chauster as the new jungler, they also challenged the perception of Team Solo Mid as the strongest team in the NA scene[12].

After the event, Locodoco expressed in an interview that "coming to America was a mistake"[13], but added that it did not indicate he would be leaving the team. On December 4th however, CLG announced the departure of Locodoco. They would use Nhat Nguyen as temporary substitute in the coming MLG Prizefights.

On December 28th, CLG officially announced Aphromoo as their starting support player to fill the position left by Locodoco, and the acquisition of LiNk as an alternate player. Also announced were the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Helen “RealMomGG” Georgallidis and Chief Operations Officer Robert “CyberBob” Del Papa, promotion of Kelby “SAYOCEAN” May to General Manager for the organization, and the renaming of the premier squad back to the original Counter Logic Gaming name from Counter Logic Gaming Prime, due to the departure of Counter Logic Gaming EU and disbanding of Counter Logic Gaming Black, leaving the previously known Prime as the only team under the CLG banner. [14]

Following the acquisition of LiNk, on January 15th, bigfatlp announced that he would be stepping down from the starting roster to a substitute position, citing lack of confidence in his own play. [15]

Season 3
Into the first week of Season 3, on February 9th, Bloodwater was announced to be the second substitute player of the team,[16] but he left the team 4 days later.[17]

As the unsatisfactory result of LCS Spring Season and preparing for LCS Summer Season, HotshotGG decided to step down from top lane and acquired Nientonsoh to fill the position. Moreover, bigfatlp returned to the main roster as jungler while Aphromoo left and Chauster returned to support position.

On July 24th, 2013, CLG announced that MonteCristo would be joining CLG as a coach.[18]

The Summer LCS Season proved to rocky for the new CLG roster, spending most of the season competing to stay in middle of the pack, ending the season in 6th place with a 13-15 but able to make it into the playoffs. Their first game was against old time rivals TSM but they were unable to win a game, going 0-2, losing their chance to make it to the Season 3 World Championship. They went on to face Team Curse to compete for the 5th place spot to win a spot back for the Season 4 Spring LCS. They were able to come together and go 2-0 and win back the spot into the league.

Pre-Season 4Chauster announce his retirement from competitive play. bigfatlp moves to sub position. CLG stated that they are currently trying out new players for jungle and support.

On November 7th it was announced that Aphromoo and TrickZ would fill the support and jungler positions for CLG during the upcomingIEM Cologne.[19] At the event, CLG defeated the Turkish Team Turquality 2-0 before falling to the eventual winners of the tournament, Gambit Gaming of Russia. The Counter Logic Gaming organization announced that jungler Trickz would not remain with the team coming into 2014.

In the 2014 NA LCS Spring Season, CLG initially struggled with its new roster and slipped to fifth place at the start of the split. However, the team improved steadily throughout the season, and went the last six weeks 12-4 to end the season with their best ever record and placing at 18-10 in third, below Cloud 9 and Team SoloMid. At the 2014 NA LCS Spring Playoffs, CLG placed third after losing 2-1 to Team SoloMid but then winning against Team Curse 2-0. After the Spring Playoffs, top laner Nientonsoh decided to step down from the starting line up due to both personal reasons and being unable to handle the ongoing heavy criticism from the public. A few days before the summer split kicked off, former NaJin White Shield substitute Seraph was officially announced as the team's new starting top laner.

With its third place finish in the Spring, CLG was able to compete in the 2014 NA LCS Summer Season. That season, the NA LCS faced an unparalleled level of competition, as last place compLexity finished only eight games behind first place Cloud 9. In addition, for five weeks in the mid-season, CLG held first place and peaked at a 13-7 record. However, toward the end of the season their record began to plummet, and days before Week 11 began, coach MonteCristo announced that the team would spend a number of weeks "bootcamping" in Korea to prepare for their playoffs and prospective World Championship spot. A roster made of substitutes, including former CLG stars Nientonsoh and Hotshotgg, competed in place of CLG's main roster and, as many expected, met little success with a 0-4 showing. Ending with an 8-game losing streak, the team finished the split with a 13-15 record in fifth place.

On August 12th, Riot Nick Allen announced that 4 members of the team - LiNk, Doublelift, dexter and Aphromoo - were fined $1,250 USD each for violating the LCS rule associated with account sharing during their bootcamp in Korea and were banned from OGN and KeSPA-owned tournaments for 2 years.[20]

In the 2014 NA LCS Summer Playoffs, CLG entered with heightened expectations after their bootcamp in South Korea. The team was favorited heavily to take their initial series from Curse, but was swept 0-3 and eliminated from Worlds contention. The next week, playing against Dignitas for fifth place overall and a guaranteed spot in the next split of the LCS, CLG lost once more, falling 1-3 and entering the following season's promotion tournament.

Preseason 5

On December 10th, Nick Allen announced that CLG is fined $ 10, 000. Riot was informed that CLG violated an LCS Ruleset by soliciting scarra who was still under contract with Dignitas as a substitute player. Aside from the fine, CLG is restricted from using scarra as head coach for the first 3 weeks of the 2015 LCS Spring Split.[21]

Season 5

In Spring Split of the 2015 Season, CLG finished the split in 3rd place with a record of 12 wins and 7 losses securing themselves a spot in Spring Playoffs. Due to not placing in top 2 they had to play into quarter finals where the faced Team Liquid. They lost 0-3 causing them to finished 5th/6th overall in the Spring Split. After playoffs, LiNk leaves the team and Pobelter and HuHi are picked up to replace him in mid for the Summer Split. In Summer Split, CLG placed 2nd after losing a tiebreaker match to Team Liquid for first place and having an overall record of 13 win and 6 losses. This earned them a bye in the Summer Playoffs. Their first set was against Team Impulse where they won 3-0 allowing them to enter the finals where they met their long time Rivals TSM. CLG went to beat TSM 3-0 securing themselves a spot for the 2015 World Championship. It was later announced that Xmithie was having Visa issues and would not be able to attend Worlds, in his place CLG would place HuHi in the Jungle.

After failing to make it out of the Group Stage in the 2015 World Championship, the organization decided to make some changes in the team. On October 23rd, it was announced that Pobelter will be stepping down from the main roster and will be replaced by HuHi as starting Mid Laner. It was also announced on October 31st that the team has parted ways with Doublelift who had been the team's AD Carry for 4 years.[22]

Season 6

CLG using Sub ADC Stixxay as the new starter worked out well and clg had an impressive first split with its new roster with a record of 13 - 5 and going on to beat Liquid 3-2 in the semifinals and beat TSM 3-2 in the finals where they than qualified for MSI. CLG impressed the world at MSI with a 7-3 record and making it to the finals vs SKT losing 0-3 but taking home Second place. After MSI CLG went back to NA and struggled the first half of the Summer Split. CLG ended up finishing 4th with a record of 10 - 8 and than beating Liquid in the quarter finals 3 - 1 and losing to TSM 0 - 3 they would go to play IMT in the 3rd/4th Place Match and lose 2-3 but in the end would qualify for worlds on points.

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